Monday's Memory: the one with the suitemates

(this one shall have lots of pictures)

we met during freshman orientation

a weekend when we visited a local waffle house way too late at night

ordered pizza that took 2 hours to arrive

learned a tiny bit about each other

and decided to be suitemates

we paired off with the 2 "l's" in one room (lindsay and lora)

and gwen and beth in the other

a yankee and a southerner as the makeup of each room

you would have thought we wouldn't work

since NONE of us knew the other

but somehow

beautiful friendships were formed

together we celebrated:

first dates

birthdays (on a budget)

and sometimes just dressed up to dress up

thursday nights were "suite nights"

usually they involved going to wal-mart or the mall

stopping by sonic for a meal

or even walking to the scary subway for a sandwich

we would come back and crash

and watch a movie

(in gwen and beth's room. they had the tv. we had the fridge and microwave)

lindsay introduced us to a show called "second noah"

and we would have marathon nights of watching it on her vhs tapes

from the first season to the last

and we sang

loudly

to the partridge family's "i think i love you"

to rascal flatt's "prayin' for daylight"

and to dixie chicks...well, anything

("goodbye earl" was a particular favorite, however)

we all had musical taste differences

but THOSE were the songs we could agree on. always.

we argued too

and would have nights where we would just talk and work things out

some of those nights involved some tears

but without fail, we'd end up all piled together on one bed

laughing at something

we had long talks

about what we wanted our lives to look like

about faith

family

how we wanted to live out God's calling on each of us

(we had no clue how to do that...we just knew we had to)

it was an idyllic 2 years

junior year, only beth and i returned to trevecca

and we had different roommates

(although our apartments were just across from each other for awhile)

we got together often

and still took classes together (mostly music)

it wasn't quite the same

6 years after the last time we'd all seen each other

beth got married

and the 4 of us saw each other again

(although beth was a little busy...

so it was mainly gwen, lindsay and i who were able to reconnect)

that was in 2007

gwen came to visit nashville last year and we were able to spend a few days together

different "pairings" like that have happened

but the 4 of us haven't spent any time together

that's going to change

THIS WEEKEND!

someone's parents have a cabin

close to gatlinburg

and lindsay, gwen, beth, elijah (beth's toddler) and i

will spend thursday through sunday together

i'm not sure we'll have the same kind of menu

(we're trading ramen noodles for my vodka pasta)

or the same movies

(at least we'll be switching vhs for dvd)

and WE are not the same people

but we still have mad love for each other

and these friendships, i truly treasure

because when we get together

it's like it was 10 years ago when we first met.